Sunday, June 4, 2017

Stone Chamber Water-Works, Milford MA.

Stone Chamber Water-Works, Milford MA.

In this post I present a Stone Chamber located in the hills of Milford, MA. which I strongly feel to be Native American in origin. My hunch would be, that it is an early colonial structure, Native built. I have a few reasons for saying this. Let me start by saying that this structure appears to have a dual function:

First, is the practical function. This Temple, or Stone Chamber, is part of a water-works. Up-hill from the site of the stone-work is a great vernal pool pond on a flat plane, between some rock outcroppings. The vernal pool than trickles out into a stream which runs down-hill, than forming another, more swampy vernal pool, which once again trickles into a stream which runs through the Stone Chamber. I do not believe there was ever any colonial path that went through the area, as we are talking many rocky outcrops and ledges here on a great and vast hillside. I do believe that the stone walls, a feature of the Stone Chamber as you will see, were built to funnel the water down the hillside in a waterworks to control the water for whatever purpose.

Second, is the clear ceremonial function of this Temple. From what I was able to chew over and discern, there was no clear reason why a Stone Chamber should have been built into the water-works here, other than for a holy, or sacred, reason. I have also noticed, as we will see, at least one rusty pale bucket in the direct vicinity of this Stone Chamber, which is an artifact that gives us a clue that there was post-colonial Native American ceremonialism involved at this spot. It is well-documented that pale buckets (usually flashy silver before rusting) , pans and the like are sometimes left at places of ceremony in the Native American tradition.

So in other words, this stone-work served a practical and ceremonial function, as a practical water work, and as a holy spring/ stone chamber site.

Third, is the land ownership of the area in question. This area of Milford, and around the Hopkinton and Holliston lands was exclusively Native-held lands until the late date (in this area) of 1701. Think about that- King Philip's War was 1675-6, and for this area around Milford, MA. to be exclusively Indian until 1701 is significant. Harvard College illegally purchased the land, even hiring mercenaries to murder some of the elders opposing the land grab, a crime which Harvard University today still needs to stand trial for. The Native American presence was then marginalized, descendants becomming the "invisible indian", the "indian farmer", or perceived as a "person of color" (viewed as non-Native although of Native descent), a "gypsie", or was known to be "the last red man visiting the wilderness in our town, sometimes seen by the townsfolk", and somehow, just about every town seems to have these "last of the red men" who by the way, all had children and grandchildren, which seemed to escape the attention of the people calling them the "last proud vestiges of their race."

Fourth, there is documented records that in the towns of Sherborn, Natick and Dover, in the mid to late 1600's, that these towns all have Native built water-works, which when compared to the Milford Stone Chamber and water-works, look like they could be contemporary- I have seen first-hand the water-works in Sherborn and Natick, although these places do not have a Stone Chamber, the area around Milford was probably special enough to warrant the building of a stone chamber. For instance, there are pre-colonial cairns, stone mounds and rock placements nearby to the Stone Chamber in Milford, as well as the fact that the stone-work/ spring is on a sacred hillside. Also, when Native people built stone-works in these places in the early colonial era, it was to serve their needs and purposes, and not the white man's. So, this particular stone-work in Milford would have looked to the European eye that the Indian's had adopted their ways, but on closer examination they were keeping things Native as well, hiding traditions in plain sight.

Below I present the pictures of the Milford Stone Chamber and Water-Works. Yes, this is clearly something more than a water-works, with the knowledge of "Stone Chamber" (Native Temples) building and ceremonialism incorporated into the work:

The top of the Stone Chamber, looking down at the roof lintels:

This rusted pale bucket is in the direct vicinity of the Stone Chamber/ Holy Spring:

From another angle:

Here are some of the stone walls directly above the slope of the stone chamber and spring which run into the bedrock outcrops: